1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, and within this field, procurement management systems, sometimes called “e-procurement”.
2. Related Art
As part of modern business practice, companies have uses computers for tracking accounts receivable and accounts payable. More recently, procurement management systems provide on-line (i.e., via computer) browsing of catalogs, online ordering of catalog items, electronic purchase orders, and electronic billing. In other words, these computer-based systems are attempting to encompass as much of the procurement process as possible, including integrating directly with suppliers for things such as catalog items, ordering, and billing.
A procurement management system can be described as being made up of processes that interact with resources within the procurement management system framework to accomplish the task of electronic procurement. These systems, in general, are customized by their administrators or vendors to meet the needs of a particular organization.
FIG. 1 shows a procurement management system 100 that includes four processing functions: (1) selection processing 105 that typically includes searching supplier catalogs, ordering items from catalogs (creating requisitions), and submitting requisitions for approval; (2) approval processing 107, where requisitions are approved as orders; (3) order processing 109 that typically includes transmitting orders to supplier organizations and tracking requisitions and orders; and (4) payment processing 111 where tracking of received goods and gathering of payment information occurs (accounts payable processing). The data used and/or created by these processing functions are shown separately in FIG. 1, but can be one large database. Such a database can reside on a server so as to be accessible from a plurality of other computers. The user 121 is the person who wants to purchase goods, and initiates the requisition process.
During procurement, there are a number of entities that are manipulated by procurement management system 100 users 121, administrators, or processes. These entities are called resources, or business objects, but in their broadest sense, are simple data used by the various processing functions 105-111. Resources are either system resources or organization resources.
System resources apply to the entire procurement management system 100, affecting all organizations the same way. System resources can only be created, updated, or deleted by a super-administrator. Organization resources are any procurement management system 100 resources that are not system resources. Organization resources can be created, updated, and deleted by the organization-administrator for the organization, or any super-administrator.
Procurement management system resources include the following: members (organizations, organizational units, users, user groups, locations); accounting resources (accounting code segments, accounting code values); commodity resources (commodity code segments, commodity code values); units of measure resources (system units of measure, organization units of measure); pricing resources (price lists, price adjustments); payment resources (payment types and subtypes, payment instruments); shipping and freight; approval resources (approval matrix, approval model, delegation tables, approval cases); and business rules. The main tasks in administering a procurement management system 100 concern setting up and modifying these resources and the business rules associated with them.
Of special importance are the business rules. These rules govern how money is spent and who approves transactions. For example, a particular employee may have a $1000 spending limit, and the employees supervisor must approve transactions that have an amount greater than this.
Since procurement management systems make use of both buyer and seller resources, it is natural to use the Internet. Hence, user interfaces for performing or managing any of the processing functions 105-111 are generally done in a web-based fashion with a web browser.
Prior art procurement management systems are not well suited to processing invoices from hourly contractors, milestone-based contracting, or hourly employees. The prior art procurement management systems assume a “purchase-order-based” model that is not easily included in the system. The present patent adds a timecard capability to a procurement management system, thereby handling hourly contractors, milestone-based contracting, or hourly employees.